‘Pardon Edward Snowden’ petition seeks White House response
A petition to pardon Edward Snowden, who has acknowledged leaking secret documents from the US National Security Agency, attracted more than 30,000 electronic signatures, one day after it was posted on the White House website.
Snowden, an outside contractor for the NSA, announced in a video on Sunday from Hong Kong that he was the source of leaks about the ultra-secret agency’s surveillance programmes. By Monday, he had dropped out of sight and was expected to face an extradition battle to face US legal charges.
The NSA has requested a criminal probe into the leaks and, on Sunday, the US Justice Department said it was in the initial stages of a criminal investigation.
If the petition gains 100,000 signatures by July 9, the White House will review it, forward it to policy experts and issue an official response as part of the Obama administration’s “We the People” effort to engage Americans in government.
White House spokesman Jay Carney declined to comment on Snowden’s status at Monday’s briefing: “When it comes to the petitions, we obviously will wait, a threshold being crossed before we respond to it. That threshold has not been crossed. ... Assessments are being made more broadly about the damage done here by the appropriate authorities.”
Manning, a US Army private first class, was in the second week of his court-martial on Monday at Fort Meade, Maryland.
